Rich-Ass Opera Fans Boo Opera

September 27, 2009

THE fracas during curtain calls for the Metropolitan Opera’s new production of Puccini’s “Tosca” last Monday is just the latest episode in a grand history of operatic booing. Frank expressions of displeasure pierced the applause at the conclusion of Act II and exploded when the production team took its bows at the end of the opera. Many in the audience took umbrage at the villain’s lewd advances toward a statue of the Madonna; at the failure by Tosca to make her customary sweeping exit after stabbing the villain to death; and at the substitution, after an awkward pause, of a stunt double for her suicidal leap.

So, some rich-ass motherfuckers are booing at the motherfucking opera? And this is a “fracas”? Fuck me.

So, some rich-ass motherfuckers are booing at the motherfucking opera?

Okay, so maybe the price of an opera ticket and a football ticket are about the same. However, “normal” people are eager to buy football tickets, whereas I’d bet the majority of opera-goers *are* “rich-ass motherfuckers”. And did you

I recently went to the symphony in my home town, which is a big-deal thing, and the behavior of the older, well-off patrons was completely comical. They, in fact, were more entertaining than the performance.

I recently went to the symphony in my home town, which is a big-deal thing, and the behavior of the older, well-off patrons was completely comical. They, in fact, were more entertaining than the performance.

I guess I’m not “normal”. I get tickets (and sometimes really good ones) for “student” prices to our city’s top-notch opera a couple times a year. I also enjoy a football game (with the same sort of frequency). I agree that the diehard fans of both forms of entertainment are often amusing.

AA, thanks for triggering happy memories of getting last-minute opera tickets for the student rate of six pounds, realising our seats were in a very fancy box, and looking down on the heads of several profs from my department, who had paid considerably more for their seats in the stalls and were not happy to see us… hee hee! Payback for all the times our cheap tickets got us into the very back of the highest levels, from where we couldn’t read the translation screen and had no idea what was going on.

I don’t like (American) football, but I pay substantially more than six quid for hockey tickets, once or twice a year, and even more for (proper) football tickets whenever I’m in England at the right time of year.

Cath – I must admit that I’ve never actually paid for the NFL tickets myself, but if a friend wants to invite me along I don’t turn them down. I’ll be honest, I go to football games more for the entertainment provided by the fans than the actual game itself. I’m not anti-sports, but NFL doesn’t match my attention span. I suppose that if I were more interested in the game I would probably buy the seats myself and more frequently. Now, if there were a professional rugby league anywhere nearby that might be a different matter. I’d probably be shelling out a lot more for the sports tickets in that case. Now watch me get flamed for posing as a “normal” person who also likes opera, when it is clear that I am in fact an Anglophilic snob of the highest degree. Rugby over NFL??? Elitist bastard!!!

all kinds of people go to the opera— and one can like both major league sports and the opera. Indeed, baseball and operatic singing both feature athletic feats and the collecting of stats by enthusiasts. But as Isis says, you either get opera or you don’t.